1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to data communication systems and methods, and more particularly to a system and method for communicating between subscribers over shared media and that provides collision avoidance, robust carrier sense, stable synchronization between stations, and data buffering and decoding in the background.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When using a data communication system based on bursts (packets), the generic format of a frame consists of a preamble at the beginning of each burst. Some communication protocols additionally include data and end-of-frame. The preamble is used to signify (recognize) the start of transmission. All nodes on a network traditionally use the same preamble and the same end-of-frame. Each node, therefore, is required to decode at least the beginning of the data to identify if this message is addressed to itself Decoding efforts importantly require a real-time computational complexity. Further, traditional data communication processes are made even more complex and time consuming due to the necessity to utilize collision detection and resolve techniques.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for a scheme to reduce the time associated with collision resolve to increase the effective data communication rate between subscribers using shared media.